Normally, this would be the time of year when things start to wind down on the arts advocacy front, but the peculiar dynamics of this year’s Congress promise to keep things interesting well into the fall. Consideration of the FY13 budget has only just begun, and once again, a state arts agency faces a vetoRead More
Public arts funding update: May
FEDERAL The IRS and Treasury Department are finally starting to bring some clarity to program related investments, releasing a rule that represents the first update in 40 years to the language describing how these financial instruments can be used. Unfortunately, the one arts example in the mix describes a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization, rather than the more standard 501(c)(3) nonprofit. ThisRead More
Brownback Caves: Kansas Gets Its Arts Funding Back
Well, ain’t this a nice turn of events: Today, a great victory has been won by everyone in the state of Kansas who loves the arts. The Governor this morning signed the budget, which includes $700,000 for the newly-created Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission. Advocates from all corners of the state spoke – and spoke loudly.Read More
Public arts funding update: March
It was a fairly quiet month, all told, and no news is good news after some of the horrible stories we’ve been treated to in previous years. It looks like we actually have a chance of seeing an increase in state arts appropriations this year for the first time since before the recession, though we’llRead More
The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2011
Each year, Createquity offers a list of the top ten arts policy stories of the past 12 months. You can read the 2009 and 2010 editions here and here, respectively. In addition to the main list, I also identify my favorite new arts blogs that started within the past year. The list, like the blog,Read More
Uncomfortable Thoughts: Is Shouting About Arts Funding Bad for the Arts?
(I’ve had the pleasure of working with Margy Waller for almost a year now helping her organization, ArtsWave, with its Measuring the Impact Initiative. Margy focuses on strategic communications and creative connections to promote broad support of the arts at ArtsWave and Topos Partnership. Previously she was Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, with a joint appointment in theRead More
Around the horn: Occupy Wall Street edition
ART AND THE GOVERNMENT – DOMESTIC Welcome Dan Lurie, the NEA’s new Senior Advisor and Director of Strategic Partnerships. Nice to see the National Conference of State Legislatures recognizing the value of arts and culture, especially with state arts agencies under such budget pressure this year and state houses having become quite an ideological battleground over theRead More
Around the horn: straw poll edition
It’s been sitting there quietly for a little bit now, but Createquity now has a Facebook page. Feel free to sign up – I post interesting links there that don’t make it into the Around the Horn round up for one reason or another. PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS – FEDERAL Teresa Eyring has aRead More
Around the horn: Carmageddon edition
Have you read this month’s Arts Policy Library explosion yet? Remember, there are quickie versions of all three articles if you’re in a hurry. MUSICAL CHAIRS Steve Gunderson is stepping down as CEO of the Council on Foundations. Social justice groups are freaked out that the previously-reported departure of Gara LaMarche from Atlantic Philanthropies willRead More
South Carolina Legislature overwhelms, overrides Governor’s veto of Arts Commission budget
Deja vu all over again. In the fiscal 2011 budget process, South Carolina’s former Governor Mark Sanford vetoed line item funding for the South Carolina Arts Commission, only to have his veto overridden by wide margins. History has just repeated itself. Governor Nikki Haley issued a similar line item veto yesterday, zeroing out $1.9 million in fundingRead More